Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant. Establishing Democracy: Venezuelan Grass Roots Political Participation in State Formation.

伊利诺伊大学博士候选人，克里斯托弗A。瓦伦西亚将在亚历杭德罗卢戈博士的指导下，研究基层政治参与在国家形成过程中以及在建立和维持民主方面的作用。 本研究的主要问题是：（1）从基层组织及其参与者的Vantage来看，国家和民主是如何理解和体验的;（2）种族、阶级和性别不平等是否会影响基层组织的参与，从而影响国家的形成和民主的建立;三是基层组织及其参与者与国家之间是什么样的社会关系。这项研究将在委内瑞拉进行，该国在经历了十年的激进政治变革后，是研究这些更一般过程的一个有用的案例。通过参与观察和结构化和半结构化访谈等实地工作方法，瓦伦西亚将在加拉加斯西南部的两个教区和周围的定居点进行民族志研究。 将特别关注社会，政治，经济和文化组织的参与者的观点，这些组织认同1998年后的政治运动。将进一步关注政府支持者、地方和区域政府官员以及反对派团体之间的互动和不同关系。 最后，地方和地区政府官员以及反对派团体将接受采访，了解他们对新政府政策的解释和自己的政治实践。这项研究在理论和实证上有助于理解国家、社会运动和民主之间的关系。 它响应社会科学的呼吁，通过观察国家形成和建立民主的自下而上和自上而下的过程，扩大对政治参与的理解。

University of Illinois PhD candidate, Christopher A. Valencia, with guidance from Dr. Alejandro Lugo, will undertake research on the role of grass-roots political participation in processes of state formation and in creating and maintaining democracy. This key research questions concern: 1) how the state and democracy are understood and experienced from the vantage point of grass-roots organizations and their participants; 2) if race, class, and gender inequalities affect participation in grass-roots organizations and thus state formation and establishing democracy; and, 3) what kinds of social relations link grass-roots organizations and their participants to the state.The research will be conducted in Venezuela, which, after a decade of radical political change, is a useful case study of these more general processes. Through fieldwork methods such as participant-observation and structured and semi-structured interviews, Valencia will conduct ethnographic research in two southwest Caracas parishes and surrounding settlements. Special attention will be paid to the perspectives of participants in social, political, economic, and cultural organizations that identify with post-1998 politcal movements. Additional attention will be given to the interactions and differentiated relationships between government supporters, local and regional government officials, and opposition groups. Finally, local and regional government officials and opposition groups will be interviewed regarding their interpretations of the new government policies and their own political practices.This research contributes theoretically and empirically to understandings of the relationship between the state, social movements, and democracy. It responds to appeals made within the social sciences to broaden understandings of political participation through the observation of both bottom-up and top-down processes of state formation and in establishing democracy.